It is well known in the construction industry to add fibers to fresh concrete to improve the characteristics of the resulting hardened concrete structure. Fibers, such as steel, glass or synthetic materials are typically added to the mixture. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,109 to Pedersen, et al., issued May 12, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,458 to Woodhams, issued Jan. 17, 1984; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,009 to Farfor, et al., issued Jul. 1, 1980. Fiber-reinforced concretes are said to have improved fracture toughness as well as a retarded degree of crack propagation.
These concrete-reinforcing fibers are packaged and sold in polyethylene bags and the fibers are added to the concrete mixture by opening the package and shoveling or dumping the fibers directly into a concrete mixer, or similar apparatus, during the concrete mixing operation. This labor intensive task is often messy and can also result in a non-uniform dispersion of fibers when clumps of fibers become encased in the fresh concrete mixture and resist wetting due to their hydrophobic nature. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a means of dispersing concrete reinforcing fibers which is less labor intensive, less messy and more effective at uniformly distributing the fibers through out the mixture.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a concrete additive product in the form of a fiber-containing package which is easier to administer to a concrete mixing operation and which also imparts improved fiber distribution throughout the fresh concrete mixture.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for uniformly distributing fibers throughout fresh concrete.
These and other objects will be made apparent from the following: